Slovak Delegation Comes to MGIMO

March 13th, MGIMO welcomed a delegation from Slovakia, led by Lukas Parizek, the State Secretary of the Ministry of Foreign and European Affairs of the Republic of Slovakia, also an MGIMO graduate (2012).

The visiting delegation also comprised the State Secretary of the Ministry of Finance Dana Meager, the Director of the Third European Department of the Ministry of Foreign and European Affairs Marek Safin, the Deputy Director of the Office of the State Secretary of the Ministry of Foreign and European Affairs Ivana Rapava, the Ambassador to Russia Peter Priputen and other representatives of the embassy. The guests were greeted by a large MGIMO delegation headed by the Rector Anatoly Torkunov.

During the meeting, the sides discussed how to deepen bilateral cooperation in education, and looked into how MGIMO could reinforce its collaboration with Slovak universities. Currently, MGIMO already has cooperation agreements with a number of Slovak universities including Matej Bel University in Banska Bystrica, University of Skalica and the University of Economics in Bratislava.

Anatoly Torkunov noted that it has become a tradition for MGIMO to welcome Slovak students. Indeed, Slovaks form the largest group of MGIMO graduates working for the United Nations and one of the most famous Slovak MGIMO alumni is currently the Foreign Minister of Slovakia Miroslav Lajcak.

Lukas Parizek remarked that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Slovakia is very interested in Slovak students receiving an education at MGIMO, as it allows them to learn rare languages. The State Secretary himself studied Arabic at MGIMO.